Rupert's Land

The only other country to engage in this sort of transaction has been Canada, which bought Rupert’s Land from the Hudson Bay Company in 1868.

The first settlements in the country thus granted, which was to be known as Rupert’s Land, were made on James Bay and at Churchill and Hayes rivers; but it was long before there was any advance into the interior, for in 1749, when an unsuccessful attempt was made in parliament to deprive the Company of its charter on the plea of “non-user,” it had only some four or five forts on the coast, with about 120 regular employ�s.

They also became sensible that the Hudson’s Bay Company in Oregon was a different concern from the Hudson’s Bay Company in Rupert’s Land; that, however small their privileges were there, they were less on Puget Sound; and being near an American settlement, they naturally sought its advantages and protection.

Extracts from minutes of a meeting of the Governor and Council of Rupert’s Land, held at the Red River settlement, June 10, 1845.

These corporate members and their associates “were to share the profits arising from the fur trade, not only from the Indian territories, but also from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s proper territories of Rupert’s Land.”